Warmth
by metaphoricheart
Summary: Lena and Stef help Callie deal with what Liam did to her. Not Brallie.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all! I always wanted more out of this storyline so I've decided to write my own. I'm not sure how long this will be or not, but this is what I have so far...hopefully someone reads it. This story will NOT contain Brallie. In this story Callie and Brandon have a sister/brother/best friend relationship going on NOT a romantic interest. I hope you enjoy my story, please let me know if I should keep going...**

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By the time Callie was finished speaking, Lena found herself gripping Stef's hand. Callie had been raped in a foster home. A place that was meant to keep her safe. And then blamed for it. Why was there so much cruelty in the world? Why? Sure, Callie was not perfect, but no one was. What did she do to deserve all the hardships she had faced?

Lena was pulled from her thoughts, by Stef squeezing her hand. Stef stood up and crouched next to the armchair that Callie was sitting in.

"Callie...sweetgirl, what happened was _not _and _never _will be your fault."

"I know," Callie mumbled. Despite her best efforts to prevent them from falling, a few tears slipped down her face.

Stef reached up and caught Callie's tears with her thumb.

"Good girl," Stef said smoothie some of Callie's hair away from her face before rocking back on her heals and standing.

"Thank you for tell us. You were very brave," Lena assured her foster daughter.

Callie stayed silent, scuffing the tips of her sneakers on the hardwood floor.

"Just um...just, make sure Jude is safe, okay?" Callie finally spoke hoarsly.

"Of course sweetie, but why would we need to do that?" Lena asked confused.

"If they send me away...to a group home...or you...you…y-you send me away," Callie said shakily but strongly.

For the first time, Brandon spoke up, "Cal...Moms won't let that happen."

"But-"

"No buts, Callie, I promise you are not going anywhere. If it becomes something out of our hands we will fight for you. Understand? Yes?" Stef said, crouching down again.

"Ok, yes," Callie mumbled.

Stef smiled softly, "Good."

"Mama- I mean, Lena, and I are going to go in the kitchen and talk for a bit about how we want to proceed for the rest of the evening. We'll be back in five minutes, ok?"

Brandon and Callie nodded.

As soon as Stef and Lena were in the kitchen, Callie let out a shaky breath, and drew her knees up to her chest.

Brandon watched her, unsure what to say, so he plopped himself down on the couch.

"You did good, you know that right?"

Callie shrugged.

"Moms will make sure you and Jude will be okay. And Sarah," Brandon reassured.

Callie looked up at him. It was so easy for him to say. His moms and his dad had always made sure things would be okay for him. Luck wasn't exactly on Callie's side, but she smiled and nodded slightly anyway.

They sat in silence until Stef and Lena returned.

"Alright, B, I think you should go upstairs and work on some homework, that sort of thing," Lena said. "I'm going to go upstairs and check on the twins and Jude."

Once Callie and Stef were alone, Stef began to talk.

"You did the right thing. I hope you know that."

Callie rubbed the bridge of her nose, "yeah".

"Now we can do this tomorrow or tonight, but we're going to have to prepare a statement and I need you to tell me whatever you can about Sarah and the Olmsteads. I'm going to talk to my boss at work when we have this information, and Lena will call Bill."

"Okay".

"Do you want to do it now or tomorrow? We can start now, and stop whenever you feel like it. You don't have to talk about anything you don't want to."

Callie stared at the floor. She wasn't expecting to have this much choice and agency in this. She shrugged, "I-I don't know."

Stef considered Callie. Stef had taken a few statements from sexaul assault surivors before, so she knew the signs of fatigue and emotional drainage, but Callie was harder to read. However, Callie often reminded Stef of herself.

Stef smiled softly. "Have you eaten dinner, yet?"

Callie shook her head.

"How about, we get some dinner into you and then we can see how you feel? Does that sound good?"

"Okay. I'm not really hungry though," Callie said, rubbing her stomach.

"Your stomach feel okay?"

Callie shrugged. "It hurts a little."

Which in Callie speak means it hurts, Stef thought to herself.

"Alright Callie girl, I'll get you some gingerale to go with dinner. Does grilled cheese and tomato soup sound okay? Just eat what you can, but you will eat something," Stef stated firmly.

"Yeah, that's fine," Callie said back, following Stef into the kitchen.

Climbing on a stool, Callie put her head down on the table and closed her eyes. Stef turned around from where she was turning on the stove to heat up the soup, and smiled sadly. She wanted Callie to take it easy for the night, but the choice was Callie's on when she wanted to make her statement. The most important thing was for Callie to have a choice, even if Callie's stubbornness would prevent her from the rest she desperately needed.

Upstairs, Lena had checked in on everyone but Brandon. She took a deep breath before knocking on his door.

"Come in," he called. "Hey Mama."

"Hey B. Can we talk for a bit?"

"Uh, sure," Brandon took off his headphones and set them down on the pillow next to him.

"You're not going to send Callie away are you? I mean you're going to help her, and that girl in that house? Right?"

"Of course we're not going to send her away and of course we're going to help her and Sarah. Brandon, don't worry. I don't have any bad news for you, I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Today wasn't an easy day for you either."

"Oh...oh, right….I'm okay, ma."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I just…" Brandon trailed off and started picking at the bottom of his jeans.

"You just," Lena prompted gently.

"I just don't understand," Brandon said quietly. "I don't understand why people do so many bad things and why Callie and other people have had so many bad things happen to them. There's so much bad in the world, and I just don't understand it".

Lena sat quietly for a moment, before moving from the piano bench "You know, mom would be better at answering this question, because frankly, I don't understand it either. But I do understand, that there is also a lot of good in this world. What you did today, supporting Callie, was good. And there others like you who support others like Callie out there, and they are good too. Don't forget that."

Brandon nodded. Lena could tell that he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts and finish up his homework, so he patted his knee and stood up. "You know where to find us if you need to talk. Don't stay up too late."

"I know. Night Ma."

Lena entered the kitchen to see Callie dipping a grilled cheese into tomato soup, and taking small bites. Stef was loading dishes into the dishwasher.

"Is Jude okay?" Callie asked immediately.

Lena sat down across from Callie. "Mhm," she hummed. "Just doing some homework and watching Jesus play a computer game."

Callie nodded and went back to her sandwhich.

"How are you and mo-Stef-making out down here?"

Stef wiped her hands on her pants."Well, Callie has now been introduced to my magnificent grilled cheeses. Isn't that right, Cal?"

Callie smiled a little, and shrugged.

"Oh Stef, you're grilled cheeses, while delicious, are not the best in town."

Stef took a dramatic intake of breath and put her hand on her chest. "Lena, I am offended."

Callie giggled a little. "I don't know, Lena, Stef's grilled cheese is pretty good."

"Ha! See?! Thank you!" Stef said triumphantly. Lena laughed before going over to kiss her wife.

Callie pushed her plate away, and put her head back on the table. Stef and Lena exchanged a look.

"How's your stomach lovebug? Feeling any better?" Stef asked.

Callie shrugged again. "Hmm, I'm sorry kiddo. Let's wait a little bit and see if it gets better now that you've eaten and such, and then we'll give you some medicine to make it feel better."

"Mhm," Callie nodded.

Stef really wanted to just tuck Callie into bed and stand guard over her forever so that no one would ever hurt again, but she and Lena had agreed that Callie should have control over her situation in the most ways she could.

"Have you thought about what you'd like to do about your statement?" Lena asked.

Callie pulled her head from the table and rubbed her eyes. "I...I guess I'll just do it now."

"You can wait to do it, you know, if you're tired…" Lena said.

"No, no I'll do it now."

"Okay, Callie," Stef hid her sigh.

An hour later Stef and Callie had finished her statement, and Callie had been sent up to bed.

"I don't know about you Stef, but I'm ready to crash. What a day," Lena said while walking up the steps, Stef following behind her.

"Tell me about it."

The next morning Stef and Lena woke up and began getting ready before the rest of the house. As Stef brushed out her hair she turned to Lena.

"Do you think we should keep Callie home today?"

"Why?"

"I don't know. She had a pretty emotionally exhausting day yesterday and she looked exhausted. It might be good for her to have a day off...and process...as you like to put it."

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Lena said thoughtfully. "I don't know. I think we should leave it up to her and less she seems really off at breakfast."

"Sounds good to me, love. I'm going to start waking up the boys and then head to the station. I'll be back in thirty minutes or so."

Lena chuckled. "Good luck with that one, honey. See you soon.".

Lena opened the door to Callie and Mariana's room, and knocked on the door frame. "Morning girls, time to get up. Mari, if you want that first shower you better get movie before the boys beat you to it."

Mariana groaned but all but sprinted to the bathroom, as Callie sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"How'd you sleep?" Lena asked, frowning as she saw her foster daughters red eyes and the bags underneath them. She wanted to ask if Callie had slept at all but bit her tongue.

Callie shrugged.

"Stef and I talked this morning, and we're going to call Bill and get your statement into motion. But you should know, if you need a personal day, you can stay home from school. Stef is dropping by the station now to get your statement going, but she'll be coming back. She'll be able to stay home with you."

Callie threw back her blankets. The last thing she needed was Stef and Lena thinking she was weak and needed to stay home from school. "Uh, thanks but I think I'll go to school."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom," Callie said pushing past Lena.

Lena sighed and went downstairs to prepare breakfast. 40 minutes later Stef had returned and all their children were scarfing down breakfast and running around grabbing their things, all of them except for Callie.

"Hey, where's our Callie?" Stef asked everyone as she knicked a piece of toast from Jesus who groaned "Moooom."

"I think she's still upstairs. I don't think she slept well," Mariana said while spreading peanutbutter on her own piece of toast.

"Hmm, well 20 minutes everyone and then we're out of here, or you're walking!" Stef reminded everyone.

"Yessiree," Brandon piped up. Stef wacked him gently upside the head, and then kissed it, before going over to Lena.

"I'll get this one, yeah?" She asked, referring to Callie. Lena nodded.

Stef checked Callie and Mariana's bedroom first but Callie wasn't in there. Going to the bathroom next, Stef knocked. "Callie? You alright? Everyone is heading out in 20 minutes."

"Callie, I'm going to open the door now to make sure you're okay."

Stef opened the door to find Callie sitting in a puddle of her own sick, with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh Callie, baby…"


	2. Chapter 2

**I wanted this to be longer and with more actual stuff happening, but this is what I had so far and I figured you guys deserved an update. Hope you like it. If you have any ideas on where you think the story should go, let me know. I don't really have any sort of set idea of where this story is going to go... I might draw inspiration from them. :)**

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Callie looked at Stef with scared and pleading eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I-I'll clean it up, I didn't mean to I swear…"

"I know, Callie, I know. It's okay. How about we get you cleaned up and then tucked back into bed?"

As Stef said that Lena came up behind them. "Everything okay in- Oh Callie...I'll mark you as sick when I get to school."

"But I wanna go to school," Callie mumbled.

"I know babe, but you need to stay home, at least for today," Lena said gently.

"Callie, can you hop in the shower by yourself? Can you stand? We can put a chair in there. Do you need help?" Stef questioned.

"Um, I can shower, yeah" Callie said.

"Alright, well I'm just going to put a chair in there just in case. We don't need you slipping and cracking your head open," Stef said knowing Callie wouldn't admit to needing help or a chair.

"Okay"

"Good girl, you can put your clothes in this plastic bag and I'll wash them later, sweets," Stef instructed Callie.

Once Callie was situated in the shower, Lena kissed Stef goodbye after making her promise to let her know if she needed anything and how things were going throughout the day.

30 minutes later, Stef was standing in fronting of Callie, who was sitting on her bed with a thermometer in her mouth.

At the sounding of the thermometer beeping, Callie reached to take the thermometer out of her mouth, but Stef beat her to it.

"Hmm, Miss Callie. 100."

Callie groaned. "Hey, I'll take good care of you, you'll feel better in no time," Stef said in a mock offended voice, causing Callie to smile slightly.

"I think I can take care of myself, Stef," Callie said quickly. Stef had more important things to do than watch her fever, and all Callie really needed to do was sleep anyway.

"I'm sure you can," Stef replied lightly. "Can you take your hair out of the towel for me? I'll be right back."

Callie sat there confused and internally fighting with herself about whether or not she needed to listen to Stef, when Stef came back in the room with a hair dryer and a brush.

"That wasn't a request Callie," Stef said pointing to the towel still holding Callie's hair on top of her head.

"Sorry," Callie mumbled and unwrapped the towel.

Stef sat with her knees tucked under her on the bed. And started to set up the hair dryer.

"Uh, Stef?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you going to blow out and brush my hair for me…?"

"So your wet hair doesn't make you sick and because part of getting better is not just some fever reducer, but some love," Stef stated simply.

"Um, okay," Callie didn't know what to make of this.

Stef stayed silent while she ran the hair dryer, and Callie sat perfectly still.

Once Stef was done blow drying her hair, Callie moved to get off the bed but Stef stopped her.

"I'm not finished yet," she said. She began french braiding Callie's hair. "Mama and I always do this with Mariana when she's sick. Now it's your turn."

Callie who was fingering the end of her pajama pants, froze. The words "Mama and I" ringing through her head. She'd been noticing a lot of these slip ups between Stef and Lena lately. She had even caught herself referring to Lena as Mama in her head and Stef as Mom, before mentally kicking herself. She knew this was a way station. This was not her home. She couldn't get so attached. Bill might find her and Jude another home any day. She couldn't want Stef and Lena to be her Mama and Mom.

As Stef tied off Callie's braid, Callie finally spoke. "Uh thanks. Do you think you can text… _Lena _to ask her if she'll bring my missed work home?"

Stef stilled her movements at the emphasized Lena before saying, "Of course, sweets. Get some rest, I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Late in the afternoon Callie had moved to downstairs with her phone and journal. She sat on the couch, editing some photos she had taken with the picture editing app she had downloaded. She wished she could have a computer with actual editing software, but this was good enough.

Around 4, the front door opened with Lena and the rest of kids in tow. Seeing Callie on the couch, Jude immediately ran over to her.

"Callie!"

"Hey, Jude. How was school?"

"It was alright. We started a new book in English today. I didn't like the other one."

"Well that's good. I hope you like this one better," Callie said ruffling his hair.

"Jude, how about you go in the kitchen and start setting up your math homework? I know you just got home from school but I've got a school board meeting after dinner and I won't have time to help you with it then."

"Okay," Jude groaned but smiled, and ran off to the kitchen.

"I can help him with it," Callie said. She used to always be the one to help Jude with his homework.

"I know you can, but you're sick and you've got your own homework. If he still needs help when I'm not here, I'm sure he knows where to go," Lena said gently. She took a stack of papers and a book out of her bag and handed them to Callie. "This is the work you missed. Do as much as you feel upto doing, there's no rush."

"Thanks," Callie said.

Fifteen minutes later, Brandon plopped himself down on the couch next to her. "Hey."

"Hey, what's up?" Callie asked, looking up from her homework.

"Not much, just wanted to see how you were doing."

Callie turned her head directly ahead and sighed. "I'm okay."

"Yeah?" Brandon asked, concerned.

Callie whipped her head to look at her foster brother. "Yeah, I'm okay, Brandon," she snapped.

"Sorry," Brandon mumbled, staring down at his hands.

An awkward silence filled between the two for a few minutes.

"I-I'm sorry. I just...don't really feel like talking about it," Callie muttered.

"It's cool," Brandon said. "Mind if I do homework in here too? It'll be less infuriating this way."

"Nope," Callie grinned.

They had been sitting quietly for a while, the only sound coming from them was sighs and the sound of their pencils.

"Um, Brandon…?" Callie asked. She had been staring into space for the last few minutes thinking about how Stef had referred to Lena as Mama in front of her. It could have just been a slip up, but they never really did it at the beginning.

"Yeah?"

"I...nevermind," Callie shook her head and looked back down at her work.

Brandon stared at her and then let it go. Callie would talk when she was ready. "Wanna play guitar after dinner?"

"Sure. That is if your moms let me move. They seem to think that being sick means being chained to a bed."

Brandon laughed. "Yeah, yeah I know."


	3. Chapter 3

**So here's the next update. I think I have an outline for how I want this story to go, but I don't know if I can possibly finish it. I'm not very good at finishing things. But I will try. Again, if you have anything you'd like to see I might draw inspiration from it. I may update again today, or I might not. Depends on how much I keep the writing, but I figured this was a good place to stop. **

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"Hey, when is dinner going to be ready?" Jesus clamored down the stairs shouting.

"In about a half hour," Lena could be heard saying from the kitchen.

From the living room Brandon rolled his eyes. Jesus was always wondering when the next meal was. He turned to say something to Callie, but quickly realized she had fallen asleep. He took the book she was reading out of her hands, marked the page, and placed it on the table next to them.

Jesus walked into the living room and flipped on the TV.

"Hey, keep it down dude," Brandon admonished his younger brother.

"Why? You getting old?" Jesus laughed.

Brandon pointed to Callie. "She's asleep."

"Oh. Sorry. Moms said she's sick," Jesus said while turning down the TV.

"Yeah. She is," Brandon affirmed. He picked up his planner and crossed off a set of homework.

"Mariana...Mariana thinks there's something more going on. She said Callie was up really late last night, and you two were out for most of the day yesterday. You weren't even around for the whole Lexi thing. Something's up," Jesus said.

"No, everything is fine," Brandon said back.

"You're a terrible liar."

Brandon sighed. "It's not really up to me to say what's going on. Callie is just going through some stuff, and she's sick. But we're fine. We're all going to be fine."

Jesus nodded. "Cool."

The brothers sat in silence until Lena called for dinner.

"Where's Callie?" Lena asked as everyone settled into their seats at the table.

"Uh, she fell asleep on the couch. I wasn't sure if I should wake her up or not, so I just left her. Sorry." Brandon explained.

"It's okay, B. I'll go check on her," Stef said, patting her son's shoulder on the way to the living room.

Stef approached Callie, and kneeled down on the floor. She felt Callie's forehead. It had gotten warmer in the last few hours.

Stef gently shook Callie's shoulder. "Hmm?" Callie grumbled.

"It's dinner time, sweets," Stef said softly.

"'Mmm not hungry," Callie mumbled.

"That's okay. Your temperature seems to have gone up again. Can you sit up for a little bit so I can take your temp and give you some medicine? We can see about food later, yeah?"

"Mmmkay," Callie said pushing herself up.

"Good girl," Stef said before leaving for the thermometer.

8888

A few hours later, Callie woke up on the couch, covered in a blanket with the light of the TV shining on her toes. She sat up and looked around. Stef was sitting on the couch alternating between watching the news and doing the crossword from an old newspaper

"Hey sweet girl," Stef said smiling, noticing that Callie was sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Where is everyone?" Callie looked around confused.

"Lena is at her meeting, she should be back soon. Brandon went to the library to study with Aidan. Mariana and Jesus are upstairs. Jude's hanging out in the kitchen working on some homework," Stef listed. "Whew, so many babies to keep track of".

Callie nodded and stretched a bit. "What time is it?"

"7:15. How are you feeling lovebug?"

Callie shrugged. No one ever asked her she was feeling before so she never knew how to answer Stef and Lena when they asked her how are you or how are you feeling or how was your day? Well, people had asked before, but no one really wanted to hear the answer before Stef and Lena. Normally these questions were just a formality.

Stef got up and felt Callie's forehead. "You don't seem as warm. How about we try to get some food in you? Yes?"

Callie nodded, stood up, and followed Stef into the kitchen.

"Hey Jude," Callie said sitting down next to him. "What are you up to?"

"Working on my art homework."

Callie looked down at the sketchbook Jude was drawing in. "Woah, Jude, that's really good," Callie praised.

Jude shrugged. "I guess. Ms. Murphy said to pick an animal that we really like, and look up pictures and sketch it. Jesus helped me find the pictures on his laptop."

"That's awesome, buddy," Callie said.

While the siblings had been talking Stef had been heating up leftovers from dinner. She placed the bowl of noodle and vegetable soup and fresh bread in front of Callie.

"Thanks." Callie turned to face her food and froze.

"Lena makes good soup, it'll be easy on your stomach too," Stef said from the sink not noticing that Callie was frozen in her seat.

Jude stared at his sister. How could he have forgotten? "Um...Stef...Callie...Callie doesn't like soup…"

Stef turned around from the sink to see Callie frozen and pale, staring blankly at the soup before her, while Jude had rested his hand on top of hers. From the way Callie and Jude were acting, Stef could tell this was about more than Callie simply not liking the taste or texture of soup. This was about something bigger.

Stef slowly removed the soup from Callie's line of vision and placed it on the counter behind them. "Callie? What's wrong?"

Jude squeezed his older sister's hand. "Cal, it's okay. Stef took it away. You won't have to eat it."

Callie nodded jerkily and squeezed Jude's hand back. Stef looked at Jude inquisitively. Jude just shook his head.

"Callie? Can you tell me what's wrong, please? I didn't mean to make you upset." Stef sat in the stool next to Callie and rubbed her back.

Callie said nothing. "You can tell her. She won't hurt you," Jude said softly.

Callie still said nothing. After about five minutes, Stef decided it was time to let it go for the moment. Callie didn't want to talk about it at the moment and there was no point in pushing her. She would try to get Callie to talk about it later.

"It's okay, Jude," Stef said. "How do you feel about toast and peanutbutter, Callie? Sound okay?"

Callie nodded.

While Callie was slowly eating her toast, Brandon came home.

"Hello?" He called out.

"In the kitchen, B," Stef replied. "You're back before Mama, impressive." She and Brandon chuckled.

Brandon walked around the table and at by Jude. "Wow, Jude. Your drawing of that dolphin is awesome."

"Thanks," Jude smiled.

Brandon looked across the table at Callie. Something was off. Something had happened while he was gone. He caught her eye and shot her a concerned look. She shook her head slightly before pushing her plate away from her. "I don't think I can eat anymore."

"Okay lovebug," Stef said. She had quietly watched the interaction between her son and foster daughter. From the first day Brandon had a connection to Callie that the others never had. At first Lena and Stef had worried that it was more than a friend/foster brother relationship, but they found that they had nothing to worry about. Maybe Brandon would get Callie to talk about what she was so upset about. Stef really wanted Callie to open up to her and Lena, but if Callie was talking to Brandon, at least she was talking to someone.

Lena walked in through the back door which lead into the kitchen, breaking Stef from her line of thought.

"Oh wow, everyone's congregated in the kitchen," Lena laughed as she put her bag down. "How are you feeling, Callie?"

Callie suddenly felt really irritated. Who were these people suddenly caring about how she felt all the time? Couldn't they just leave her alone?

"Will you all stop asking me that? I'm fine, my god." Callie hopped off the stool and went through the back door.

Lena was started to go after her, but Stef held up her hand. "Lena, wait. She's just sitting outside. I can see her through the window. Just give her some time to cool off...she was kind of upset earlier."

"About what?"

Stef shook her head. "I'll explain later."

"Are you...are you going to send Callie away?" Jude asked quietly.

"What?" Stef and Lena said at the same time, turning towards their foster son.

"Sometimes Callie gets really angry and upset, and then they want to send her away," Jude explained.

Stef and Lena looked at each other and then back at Jude. "We're not going to send you or Callie anywhere, sweets," Stef said. "She's just upset and that's perfectly normal. Everyone gets upset. It's okay to be upset," Lena added on.

Brandon quietly slipped from the room while his moms comforted Jude. He went out the backdoor and found Callie sitting in the grass. He sat down next to her not saying anything.

"You wanna play guitar?" He asked her after a few minutes. Callie shook her head. "I'm not really in the mood, sorry."

"That's okay. Do you wanna talk about anything?"

Callie sighed. "Not really. I bet your moms are super mad at me now, though."

"Nah, they're just concerned. We all are."

Callie chucked bitterly. "You and your freaking family."

"Yeah, me and my freaking family. Let's go inside. We can watch a movie." Brandon stood up, offered his hand to Callie, and they both walked into the house.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys. I was on a roll, and figured I'd put up the next chapter. I'll update by next week. Enjoy.

Also some of you seemed confused in your reviews (thank you by the way for the lovely reviews). This will NOT be a Brallie story. Brandon and Callie's relationship will strictly be a friendship/sibling relationship.

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While Mariana was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Stef checked up on Callie who was lying on her bed fiddling on her phone.

"Hey love, let's check your temperature again before you go to sleep?"

Callie nodded, not looking at Stef the entire time they checked her temperature.

"Hm. It's going down, but we'll still have to keep an eye on it. So no school tomorrow," Stef said.

Callie nodded again. "I...um...I...I'm sorry about the soup...and what I said to Lena. It was rude. I apologize."

Stef sat down on the bed, hoping that Callie would open up to her. She'd have to tread carefully though. "It's okay, sweetie. We're not upset. Just worried."

"Yeah, that's what Brandon said."

"Well, Brandon can be pretty smart, except for when he's baking," Stef chuckled.

Callie smiled slightly. "I'm sorry that the soup upset you earlier...our intention is to never upset you," Stef secretly prompted.

Callie sighed. "I know..I just…"

"You just what, sweets? It's okay. You can tell me," Stef said gently.

"I don't have very good memories with soup, that's all," Callie replied.

Stef gently rubbed Callie's shoulder. "What happened?"

Callie looked up at Stef, her eyes swimming with tears, shaking her head. "It's okay, Callie. You can tell me. But if you really don't want to tell me right now, you do not have to. You don't have to do anything you don't want to...except helping out with the chores but you already knew that," Stef said lightly.

"I….um, Mariana will be back soon… I don't really wanna talk about it to her yet…," Callie said. While she and Mariana had been getting closer, Callie wasn't ready to disclose that kind of information with her. They had only just started getting along and sharing things about each other.

"Do you wanna go into my room? Lena is in the shower if you just want to talk to me, but I'm going to have to tell her what you tell me so we can help you better. But it's up to you."

"...Okay…" Callie said almost inaudibly.

Mariana walked in as Stef stood up from Callie's bed. "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, Miss Thing. Callie just needs to talk to your old mom for a bit," Stef said, and walked out the room. Callie followed her and stood in the doorway of Stef and Lena's room.

"Well, come sit up on the bed with me sweets."

Callie slowly walked over to the bed and then sat as far away as possible from Stef while still facing her on the bed. Stef sat quietly, waiting for Callie to begin talking.

"I um….you know that most of our foster homes weren't as great as this one?" Callie started.

"Yeah," Stef said sadly.

"Well uh, this one house...the foster mother, well I thought she was alright. She never yelled or hit or anything, but she would do terrible passive things to punish eyes. She used to put soap and other stuff in the soup liked to make so much...it hurt so badly...Bill finally took us out of the house after I ended up in the hospital…," Callie started slowly and then let it all out in a rush. If she was going to do this, she was going to get it over with fast.

Stef sat in stunned silence. "So...that's why I don't like soup," Callie stated, looking at Stef, waiting for her to say something.

"Callie...I'm...I'm so sorry that happened to you. Lena and I will never do anything like that to you. We will never hurt you on purpose. If we are upset with you, we will tell you with words and give out appropriate punishment like grounding. Okay? Understood?"

Callie nodded.

"Thanks for telling me, love. You've been so brave these last few days. You should head to bed, you deserve your rest."

8888

Lena and Stef woke up to Lena's cell phone rining. Lena glanced at the clock. It was six in the morning, who could possibly need her at six in the morning?

"Hello?"

"Hello, Lena, it's Bill."

"Bill! Hi! Is everything okay?" Lena asked nervously. Stef sat up in bed watching Lena anxiously.

"Uh, yeah. I um, just, well Lena you're not going to like this, and frankly I don't either."

"What? What is it?" Lena asked getting more nervous by the second.

"CPS got the report that Stef sent to us about what happened with Callie at the Olmsteads. They need to me to evaluate Callie to see if she's capable of staying with you and her brother."

"What, that's ridiculous? She didn't do anything wrong!"

"I know, Lena, I know that is probably the case. But I'll be stopping by to evaluate Callie and talak to her about the situation. Then I'll be needing daily reports from you aand Stef detailing how Callie is doing for the nexdt week. Then I have to make a decision. I'm sorry. I don't like this anymore than you do."

Lena sighed. "What time do you expect to come around today?"

"A little after one."

"Alright….see you then." Lena hung up.

Lena turned to her partner with tears in her eyes and began to explain the situation. By the end, Stef was furious. "Callie is fine here! She is safe! We'll make sure she gets the help or whatever she needs! What about Sarah? What are they doing about her?"

"I don't know, honey. We'll ask Bill when he comes by. I'm going to take the day off work. We need to try to remain calm for Callie's sake."

"Right, right. Of course," Stef said. "I'm going to call Roberts and tell her I can't come in again today. Then I'll get the rest of the kids up."

"What about Callie?"

"If she's not up by nine, we'll get her up," Stef said climbing out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

Lena sighed and pulled her hair up ontop of her head before throwing back her covers. This was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's chapter 5. Enjoy.**

**I know that Callie seems to be opening up to the moms slowly, but I've read a lot of stories, which are all wonderful, that have her opening up right away. That just doesn't seem realistic to me for someone like Callie.**

**I'll also bring the other siblings in in the next few chapters, especially Jude.**

* * *

Callie stood frozen for a few seconds before going red in the face and shouting, "I knew it! I knew I should have never trusted you and your whole freaking family! I knew I should have never trusted that you would protect me! You're going to get me sent away! I knew it!"

Callie had woken up with the rest of the kids, and Stef and Lena figured they might as well tell her first thing since Callie would know something was up right away anyway.

"Callie, honey, that is not true. Bill doesn't even like this. It's CPS protocol, sweetie. But you'll be fine. It'll all be fine, we have nothing to worry about," Lena said trying to reason with Callie before she escalated.

"No, no, no, no. You and your family have luck. Mine doesn't. Don't try to tell me things will be okay, because they won't be."

"Callie girl," Stef started but Callie interrupted.

"Don't 'Callie girl' me. I'm not anyone's girl."

Brandon stepped out of the bathroom and into the hall with a towel around him and hair dripping. "Hey...uh...what's...what's going on? Why is everyone shouting?"

"B, please just go to your room and finish getting ready for school," Stef said but Callie talked over her.

"You! I never should have trusted you! You made me believe that _maybe _things would be okay. But they aren't going to be. I never should have listened to you. I'm so stupid. You're so stupid. Stay away from my family," Callie shouted at a bewildered Brandon before running down the stairs and out the door.

"I got her," Stef said and flew after Callie.

Stef was thankful that her job forced her to keep her in shape and that Callie was sick, because Callie hadn't gotten very far by the time Stef burst out the front door. She caught up to Callie and tackled her into a hug. Callie fought for a few minutes, before crumpling to the sidewalk with Stef still holding her.

Stef felt tears hit her arms and she began rocking Callie in her lap. "I am so so sorry that your life has lead you to believe that you cannot trust people. I am so sorry that you took a leap of faith and the system is again failing you. But we, Lena and I, are not going to let you go anywhere without a fight. We care about you. We will help you no matter what. We are not giving up on you. You're not disposable, Callie," Stef whispered into Callie's ear, echoing the sentiments from the first net they had met.

Callie started to cry harder. "I know it's been a rough few days. I know it's asking a lot of you to trust me and my family, but please let us help you with Bill. We'll be there every step of the way. Please give us one last chance," Stef whispered into Callie's ear, tears falling down her own face.

Stef rocked Callie and stroked her hair until Callie's crying had subsided. "I-I'm so sorry," Callie said. She felt stupid. First she had yelled at this family that had been nothing but good to her, and then she had allowed herself to break down in a foster mother's arms and be comforted. She needed to regain control and fast. She was going to have to do this her way-without Stef and Lena.

She felt Stef pull her up and then turn her around to face Stef. "What do you say, Callie? Give us one last chance?"

Callie looked into Stef's eyes and was shocked by what she saw. Her foster mother's blue eyes were filled with nothing but compassion and sincerity. They reminded her of her mother's eyes. Before she knew what she was doing Callie found herself nodding her head, whispering "okay, I'll try".

8888

The doorbell rang at exactly 1:05. Callie tensed from where she was sitting in the living room. Stef rubbed her knee before getting up to get the door, shouting "Lena," as she sent.

She opened the door and found a tired looking Bill. Bill went to step inside the house but Stef held up her hand and motioned for him to go back outside. Stef shut the door behind her.

"I just want you to know, that, that girl has a fever and has had a rough couple of days. Don't pull anymore fast ones on her. She's a good kid," Stef told Bill looking him square in the eye.

Bill sighed. "I know, Stef. But I've gotta do my job."

"Then do it right." Stef stood back, opened the door and motioned for Bill to enter the house.

Stef lead Bill to the kitchen where Lena and Callie were seated side by side. As soon as Bill walked into the room, Callie's knee started bouncing up and down. Lena gently put her hand on Callie's knee to still her.

"Hi Callie, I hear that you're a little sick. I'm sorry to hear that," Bill says sitting down.

"It's okay," Callie said, unsure of what to say to this.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Bill tried small talk, but Stef, Lena and Callie weren't responding to it.

"Ah, right. So I um, why I'm here, right. Well, I really hate to do this but it's CPS protocol. I need to check up on Callie in light of the information that we received and make sure she's not...sexually volatile or too emotionally disturbed."

"How are you going to determine that?" Lena asked.

"Well, I'm going to ask you and Callie some questions. Then I'm going to need you and Stef to write up a daily report about Callie. Then I'll drop by again at the end of next week, and give my verdict."

Callie's eyebrows creased and her knee started bouncing again.

"Alright. How about we get started so Callie can get back to resting?" Stef prompted.

"Of course. Okay, Callie I'm going to ask you some questions and some statements, and you are to answer with yes or no. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Callie said clearly.

After several invasive questions, such as "Do you have thoughts of harming yourself or others?" "Do you find many people attractive and cannot help but act on those feelings of attraction?" Bill finally shut his briefcase.

"Alright, from what I can tell so far, and I figured things would be as such, everything is fine. You guys are going to need to develop an action plan for Callie's wellbeing. I would suggest getting her into some therapy," Bill stated.

"Yes, we were going to discuss that with her tonight," Lena said.

"Good. I'll get out of your hair then."

"Uh-Bill, wait," Stef said. "What about Sarah?"

"Until CPS is done with Callie's evaluation to make sure she could possibly be telling the truth, the Olmsteads will be investigated and Sarah will be removed from the Olmsteads for the duration of the investigation on the Olmsteads. Nothing can happen until our investigation of Callie is complete."

Callie stared opened mouthed at Bill before quietly saying, "Are you kidding me?"

"Unfortunately, no," Bill said somberly.

"So you're just going to leave her in that house after I told you what happened to me? Why would I lie? There isn't anything to be gained from lying! I've gained nothing from being...being...being RAPED!"

"I know, Callie. I'm so sorry. That's, just the system," Bill stated. Stef lead him to the door while Lena stayed with a fuming Callie in the kitchen.

"This isn't fair," Callie said. "Now, Sarah is just as trapped as I was, and this was all for nothing." Callie pushed herself off her stool and stomped upstairs.

Stef rejoined Lena in the kitchen. ."Well, that went well."

Lena put her head in her hands. "She has every right to be angry. She's right. It's not fair."

"I know, love," Stef said hugging Lena.

"What are going to do?" Lena asked looking into Stef's eyes.

"Well, we'll give her some time to cool off, and then we'll go talk to her. We'll also need to check up on her fever," Stef said.

"Okay, sounds good," Lena said tiredly.

Lena and Stef waited for a few minutes before going to talk to Callie. They knocked on the door frame of her and Mariana's room. "Callie honey?"

Callie was sitting on her bed with headphones in her ears. The music on her phone was turned all the way up so that it was blasting out of the headphones.

Stef tapped Callie's shoulder. Callie pulled her headphones out and hit pause. "Sorry, did you say something?"

"No, we just wanted to talk to you," Stef said sitting down on the bed.

"There's nothing to talk about. The system is a piece of shit, end of story," Callie sighed.

Lena eye's widened but decided not to comment on Callie's language just this once.

"Cals, I'm going to have to agree with you that the system is a piece of shit. You have every right to be angry. I asked you to take a leap of faith today and it blew up in your face," Stef said.

"But...but I'm not angry at you," Callie said confusedly. Stef and Lena looked at each other with a look of relief.

Callie looked between Stef and Lena. "Did...did you think I was angry at you?"

"Well, we weren't sure honey, that's all," Lena said.

"Oh. I'm not mad at you guys. I'm just mad...mad at the system, I guess."

"You have every right to be angry at the system. But we just want you to know that we are still here for you, and we hope that you'll still take another leap of faith with us."

Callie stared at the wall ahead of her before nodding and turning towards the moms, "Yeah, I'll try."

"Good girl," Stef said kissing her forehead.

8888

Later that day, Stef and Lena made dinner in the kitchen somberly, what Bill had said to Callie weighing heavily on their minds. Stef was cutting up peppers, and stopped suddenly.

"Lena!"

"What?" Lena said bewildered at Stef's sudden burst of energy and smile.

"I may have a way to get Sarah out of that house faster."


	6. Chapter 6

**OKAY BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY. I FEEL REALLY GROSS DOING THIS BUT I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU COULD TAKE A MOMENT TO AT LEAST READ. YOU WON'T SEE IT AGAIN.**

n the middle of October 2013, I wrote what I considered to be my "best" suicide note. On April 1, 2014 I burned my "best" suicide note outside on a college grill. This wasn't the first time I have been suicidal, and it probably won't be the last. However, through hospitalization, therapy, medication, a lot of love, and a lot of lessons in learning to love the little things in life, I have learned to successful manage my mental illnesses. Throughout this ongoing process, I've had a mixed bag in the type of support and treatment I've received. A lot of times I wished someone more empathetic, validating, and less judgmental were helping me. I would really like to have the opportunity to be the kind of person I desperately needed for someone else.

I'm ridiculously uncomfortable doing this, but this is something I would really love to do so I'm just goint to have to suck it up. The $250 is to pay for training and a background check, and things of the like. I will probably end up paying most of it, but could use some help. So if you can spare even just a dollar, or five seconds hitting the share button, I'd appreciate it. I'll send you a cute card and you want a cute card from me because they're hella cute. Okay, I'm done. I think I'm just going to melt into a pool of uncomfortable and continue to cringe at myself. Thanks for reading.

TYPE IN YOUR BROWSWER IM ALIVE DOT ORG SLASH 1216a1bc (put it all into one)

If anyone can share this around, or even donate please let me know! In return I will make you an awesome card and if you give me a prompt/request I'll do a one shot based around it for The Fosters or any other fandom that I'm part of.

* * *

**I DON'T REALLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT LAWS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR REAL SO PLEASE DON'T HATE ME IF THIS IS INACCURATE IT IS JUST FOR THE STORY.**

* * *

"Callie was...raped…? In a foster home?" Mike said incredulously, leading back in his chair. "My god, that's terrible, Stef."

Sted nodded. "That's not even the worst of it, Mike."

"What do you mean?"

Stef sighed. "Well, we had to let CPS know, especially since there's another girl staying at the Olmsteads currently, and Bill came by yesterday. He's investigating if Callie is sexually volatile and won't do anything about the other girl until his investigation is complete, and Callie is proven to be at the very least not lying to get attention so to speak."

"That's ridiculous," Mike said. Stef nodded again.

Mike up in his chair and looked around the police station. "We've gotta get going on patrol soon."

"Yeah," Stef heaved herself up out of the chair. As she grabbed her keys, she stopped and turn to Mike. "You know, there might be a way to get Sarah out of that house, but it's not exactly a job that Roberts has assigned to us…"

"Are you asking if I'm willing to help even though Roberts might flame our asses for a bit?"

Stef laughed, "Basically, yeah."

"Well, I'm in."

Stef smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Mike."

8888

The front door opened and Jude, Jesus, Brandon, and Mariana walked through each saying variations of"Hey mom" and "Hi Lena". Lena had stayed home with Callie today. It had been a long day. Callie's fever didn't seem to want to let up, and Callie had been extremely withdrawn. Lena had tried to get her to talk, but didn't get very far. She knew better than to push, so she left Callie to nap.

Jesus and Brandon grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl before heading up the stairs, chatting animatedly about what sounded like instrumental video game music.

Mariana stayed behind, and cut up an apple. "So...Mama...um...what's been going on with Callie?"

Lena looked up from the school supply catalogue she was flipping through and sighed. "She's got a fever, honey."

"Yeah, I know. But I think there's something more going on. So does Jesus. And Jude seems kinda worried, he kept asking Brandon if he knew what was going on, but Brandon wouldn't tell him…." Mariana trailed off. "Brandon knows something, doesn't he?"

"Yes, Mariana, Brandon knows something."

"So...are you going to tell us what's going on or at least Jude? It's his sister, you know."

"Yeah, I know Miss Thing. I'll be talking to Mom and Callie about that soon, and we'll fill you guys in with as much as Callie wants to share. Okay?"

Mariana nodded. "Hey, where is mom, I thought today was the day her shift ended early?"

"It is, but she, uh, needed to stay for a little while longer to take care of him stuff."

"Oh," Mariana popped the last apple slice in her mouth. "I'm going to start my homework."

Lena sighed and put her heads in her hands. They had been so caught up in everything that was going on with Callie that they hadn't thought to fill in their other children on what was going on. Of course they knew something was going on. _What kind of parents are we? _Lena thought to herself.

Pulling out her phone she texted Stef: "We need to talk with Callie about telling the other kids. They're worried."

A few moments later Stef replied: "Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll be home in two hours. I won't be using my phone much so if I don't respond right away, don't worry."

Lena smiled, and sent back "Alright, see you soon." As she set her phone back down she heard Mariana yell "Mama! Can you come up here?" from upstairs.

Lena ran up the steps. Mariana was waiting for her at the top of the steps. "What's going on?"

"Callie," Mariana stated. Lena went to move around Mariana to Callie and Mariana's bedroom, but Mariana stopped her.

"Ma, she's packing up her stuff. She says she might have to get out of here. She said not to tell you about that part," Mariana whispered.

Lena stared at her daughter for a minute trying to process what she had just been told. "Okay, thanks for telling me. How about you wait downstairs and I'll talk to Callie?"

Mariana nodded and left. Lena took a deep breath and reminded herself to stay calm before stepping into the bedroom.

"Callie," Lena said.

Callie whipped around to see Lena standing in the door way.

"Go away, Lena," she said harshly as she zipped up her bag and threw it off the bed.

"Not gonna happen," Lena sat on the bed. "What's going on Callie?"

"Nothing," Callie crossed her arms.

"Callie," Lena said in a stern voice. "I need to know what's going on. Mari said that you had somewhere to go? Care to explain?"

Callie sighed. "She told you, I told her not to."

"She's just looking out of you, love bug. Tell me what's going on? Please?"

Callie sighed again and stared straight ahead. "I uh...well, Bill might be removing me from this house, so I um, I figured I'd be prepared."

"Honey, we're not going to let Bill take you anywhere," Lena said softly.

Callie turned angrily to look at her foster mom. "You can't promise me that Lena! Stop saying these things that you can't be sure of! I know you will do your best and I believe that, but you are not in control of what the system or Bill does!"

Lena froze for a minute and then nodded. "You're right, sweetheart, we can't. But we will fight for you. I guess we just want you to feel safe, that's why we keep telling you those things. We aren't trying to lie to you, honey."

Callie stood up and went to the window. "I know, but nowhere is safe," Callie said so softly Lena almost didn't hear her. Lena's heart broke.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I wish I could fix it," Lena said. Calie froze at how full of love Lena's voice was.

She walked back to Lena. "I know, but you can't, and that's...that's not your fault."

Lena's eyes welled up with tears. Here was a 16 year old girl trying to comfort her with wisdom beyond her years. Lena took a deep breath.

"I just want you to know, that we will do everything that we can to keep you, and to protect Jude."

Callie nodded. "Thanks."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Callie reached over and grabbed Lena's hand. Lena looked up at Callie in shock. "I um...I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you and Stef will try your hardest...and I just...I just want you to know that I really appreciate it. I really appreciate everything you've done for me and Jude."

Lena's eyes filled with tears again, spilling over onto her cheeks. Callie squeezed her hand and then let go. She stared down at her bag.

Lena took a few seconds to collect herself and wipe her eyes, before pushing herself into mom mode. "Callie, your feelings are totally valid. I'll make you a compromise. Take a few clothes out of your bag and your other necessities, and we'll leave the rest packed."

Callie breathed a sigh of relief. Lena understood and wasn't mad or forcing her to believe in fairytale worlds like Brandon sometimes did.

"But, your packed bag is going to stay in Stef and I's locked closet. If you need anything out of it, you will have to ask one of us. We won't have you running anywhere without our permission. Understood?"

Callie gulped. She hadn't really actually said but Lena had caught on that she was thinking about running away. _What is with this family and reading my mind? _She thought.

"Callie, do you understand?" Callie had stayed silent for too long.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I understand."

8888

Mike and Stef were back at their desks.

"Alright, what are you thinking Stef?

"Well, Liam was 19 at the time and Callie was 14. And that's statutory rape by the law. I hate that is the way they might pay attention to Callie's case, but Callie wants that girl out of that house, and so do I. So...we might have to play their tactics…" Stef trailed off, and shuddered.

"Yeah, it sucks but we might have to do it," Mike agreed. "I'm gonna look through these files on the Olmsteads and the other kids they have fostered. Wanna take half?"

"Sure."

They sat quietly, flipping through the files.

"Stef, several of these files have girls that they fostered that were removed under allegations of them being sexually volatile towards their son, or without any explanation mentioned in the file at all."

Stef looked up, wide eyed. "Oh my god. He's been...been raping girls for years then!"

"Well, from the looks of the file, four... Did you find anything?"

"Um, yeah. I think so," Stef said. "Hold on a second."

She pulled out some files and splayed them across the desk, circling in pencil what she wanted him to look at. "Domestic violence complaints from neighbors. There are reports of yelling, and things being broken."

"How are these people allowed to remain foster parents?" Mike asked, shaking his head.

"Good question," Stef said. "I think it's time we call the AD's office and start to find out the answer to that question.


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright. I'm sorry that it's been forever since I updated. I just struggled to write this chapter, I started a summer class, and had some personal things to deal with. This chapter isn't my favourite and it's a lot of exposition, and I'm sorry about that. Next chapter will be better.**

* * *

Stef walked in the door as Lena was setting pizza on plates, and moving the pizza boxes off the island table.

"Hey love, we're doing pizza?"

Lena kissed her wife. "Yeah, it's been an exhausting day and we haven't had pizza for a while so…" She threw up her hands to say "why not".

"Hey, come on now, I wasn't complaining," Stef chuckled as she grabbed a glass of water.

"So, um, listen honey, we really, really need to talk. I have a lot of stuff to tell you. I think we need to talk tonight," Lena said.

"Yeah, I agree. I have some stuff to tell you too. Why don't we wait until all the kids are settled in doing their evening stuff after dinner?"

"Sounds good," Lena said.

Stef walked upstairs to change out of your uniform. "And tell everyone dinner is ready!" Lena shouted after her.

Jesus bounded down the stairs, "Did I hear dinner?"

Lena laughed. "You sure did, and it's pizza."

"Nice, mama."

As everyone filed in and sat down, Lena cleared her through. "So uh, guys, I know that a lot of stuff has been going on recently. And we don't mean to leave you guys out of the loop, but it's been hectic and we want everyone to feel safe. So tomorrow morning, family meeting. I know it's a Saturday but everyone needs to be in the living room by 11? Got it?"

"Got it," everyone mumbled.

Callie looked wide eyed at Stef who was sitting at the head of the table, while Callie sat on the corner seat next to her. "Don't worry sweets, we're not going to share anything you don't want to. We'll talk later, yes?"

Callie nodded and was silent for a few minutes. "Um...I...um…"

Lena and Stef met eyes with each other, quirking their eyebrows before turning back to their foster daughter.

"I...uh...the pizza...um, I'm not really up for it. Is it...is it okay if I have something else? My stomach kinda hurts," Callie said hesitantly.

Lena raised her eyebrows at Stef, while Stef suppressed a grin. Callie had asked them for something .Callie had expressed a need. Callie expressed pain. They felt like dancing.

"Sure sweets, what do you feel up to eating?" Stef turned back to Callie.

8888

The thermometer beeped. Stef took it from Callie and sighed.

"It's gone back up," Stef said while handing Callie some medicine.

"I'm sorry," Callie mumbled.

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault that you're sick. Understand?" Stef said searching Callie's eyes.

Callie nodded.

"Good. I'm gonna go talk to Lena for a bit, and then we're going to talk to you."

Callie eyes widened in fear.

"Nothing bad sweets, we just want to talk to you about talking to Jude, getting Sarah out of the house and about Bill. But we don't have any bad news for you, so try not to worry." Stef smiled, patted Callie's knee, and went to join her wife in their bedroom.

"Her fever's gone back up, I think we need to take her to the doctor. It's been three days," Stef said shutting the bedroom door behind her.

"Yeah, I agree. We'll mention it to her when we talk to her," Lena said while pulling her hair up on top of her head. "So, just so you know, I've hidden the keys in the safe of our unlocked closet…"

Stef sat down. "Okay, and why is that?"

"Callie's overnight bag is in there...with all of her stuff…"

"What?" Stef practically shouted. "Lena-"

"Stef, let me finish?"

Stef let out of breath. "Yeah, of course, sorry. Just don't keep doing the suspense thing, you know it drives me nuts".

Lena chuckled, "Yeah sorry about that. Anyway, so Callie was packing her things today...she asked me to stop promising her things that weren't in our total control. She believes that we are there for her and will fight for her, or at least she says she does, but she's right...we cannot promise her things that we ultimately have no control over. It's like she wanted to be ready, or not allow herself to settle somewhere, so she packed her bag. Her feeling was totally valid...so I let her keep the bag packed, it's just now locked in the closet. Her essentials and a few changes of clothes are out of the bag. Anything she needs from the bag will have to go through us.

Stef sat there silent for a moment once Lena was finished. "Well, I guess it's better that you were there instead because I probably would have made her unpack her bag right then and there. What if she runs Lena?"

Lena took her wife's hand in her own. "We're going to make sure she doesn't. Validating her feelings is important to do for her. It will reduce her chance of running."

Stef nodded. "Okay."

"So...you have things to tell me?" Lena prompted Stef.

Stef sighed and got up and started pacing. "Mike and I found some interesting stuff looking through some old files on the Olmsteads. It turns out that multiple girls have been removed from the home under the claim that they were too sexually volatile or inappropriate in some other bullshit way, or even without an explanation at all. Not to mention the domestic violence calls...and no one seems to have noticed how suspicious this looks?! He could have been raping girls for years!"

Stef nearly shouted and threw her hands up.

"Stef honey, you need to keep it down. That's really awful, but do we want Callie or anyone else to hear yet?"

Stef let out a breath and plopped back down on the bed with Lena. She put her head in her hands and mumbled, "no, I guess not."

"So...how much do we tell Callie?" Lena asked, finally verbalizing the question neither of them wanting to answer.

"Well...I called the DA's office, spoke to a friend who has helped me out before...he's going to call me back soon, and we go from there...and I'll have to tell Roberts and Bill," Stef listed off.

"And Callie?"

"I think we should be honest with her. We want her to trust us. She deserves honesty," Stef said firmly.

"I agree, but I think we shouldn't give her too many details at once. She has enough to deal with, and we don't even know where this is going yet."

"Agreed," Stef said. This was exhausting. She hated that Callie had to go through this and that this conversation even needed to happen with her wife about one of her children...foster children. Foster children. _Temporary. _Stef reminded herself.

Lena put her head on her wife's shoulder and Stef wrapped her arm around Lena. "Tomorrow...I think we should keep all the kids home for a few hours...relax a little...play a game...do a family day…"

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," Stef said. She kissed Lena's temple before breaking the embrace.

"Let's talk to Callie."

They found Callie curled up under a blanket, reading. Lena had been surprised to find that Callie was an avid reader. When she had talked to Callie about this, Callie just shrugged and said it was nice to have time to read and not worry about things like how she was going to feed Jude. Lena took her to the library once a week after school, after that conversation. She loved watching Callie's eyes light up every time they entered the library. She wished her other children loved reading as much as Callie did, it was nice to talk about books with her daughter...her...foster daughter. Lena frowned. _Maybe this isn't meant to be temporary? _

"Hey, Callie, do you mind if we talk now?" Lena said.

Callie shut the book, and followed her fosters moms back into their bedroom.

Once they all were situated on the bed Stef cleared her throat. Callie was picking at the bottom of her pajama pants.

"Look at us, sweets. We're not going to hurt you and I promise you this conversation will not end in anything bad for you or Jude," Stef said gently.

Callie looked up, but wouldn't meet Stef's eyes. Stef sighed. Well, that was a starting point.

Lena began. "Honey, we just wanted to let you know some things and ask you some things." Callie nodded and Lena continued. "For starters, we're going to be looking into getting you some therapy. This is not optional and not up for debate, but if you don't feel comfortable with the person we find for you, it's okay to let us know. We'll keep looking until you find someone you feel comfortable with."

Callie swallowed. "Okay."

"I know, therapy sounds really scary and tough. And you've done group therapy and not found it helpful, but we're here to support you. No matter what happens. Talking to a therapist will be really helpful for you and healing. Does that make sense, slug a bug?" Lena finished.

"Yeah, it makes sense," Callie mumbled.

"And if your fever hasn't cleared by tomorrow, we're taking you to the doctor," Stef added on.

Callie nodded. "Okay."

Stef opened her mouth to start questioning Callie about how she was feeling but Lena caught her eye and shook her head. "Let her process," she mouthed to Stef. Stef nodded. They would talk to Callie again about therapy later, after she'd had some time to think about it.

"So...tomorrow morning we want to let everyone know what's been going on, but only with how much you are comfortable with sharing."

Callie looked into Lena's eyes. "I um...um...they can know what I told you."

Stef nodded, and then asked the golden question. "How much does Jude known already?"

Callie's eyes filled with tears but she forced herself not look down, just away. "He knows that something bad happened, and that it hurt me. And that Liam and I had a 'more than foster sibling relationship' but...I never actually used the word...rape...around him. He was younger at the time and I just…"

Lena put her hand on Callie's knee. "It's okay, you don't have to justify yourself. You did what you thought was best, and it probably was for the best. You're a good big sister."

Callie blushed.

"I think...I should be the one to tell everyone. Or at least part of it...Jude deserves to hear it from me."

"That's very brave of you sweetheart," Lena replied quietly.

"But um...can you guys do the rest…?" Callie asked tentatively.

"Of course," Lena and Stef said at the same time.

"They aren't….they aren't going to think I'm a freak, right?" Callie said looking down and so quietly Stef almost didn't hear her.

"Hey, hey," Stef titled Callie's chin up and forced her to look her in the eye. "No, they will not think you are a freak. You are not a freak. What happened wasn't your fault. We'll remind them to not treat you any differently than they would normally treat you, but just be a little extra supportive. Does that sound okay?"

Callie nodded and yawned.

"Alright, Cals, one last thing before we check your temperature and bed. I'm looking into the Olmsteads to see if there is a way to get things to move faster for Sarah. I don't know many details yet, but I just want to let you know that I'm trying but I can't promise anything."

Callie stared at Stef, and then shocked Stef by reaching out and hugging her. "Thanks for trying," Callie whispered in her ear.

Stef whispered back, "you're welcome baby" and caught Lena's eyes.

Stef hoped she was reading Lena correctly and that Lena was thinking what she was thinking...that they should adopt Calie and Jude. But that was another conversation and another hurtle, for another day. They just needed to take it one day at a time for now and let Callie and Jude know they were loved and supported no matter what.


End file.
